Uphill Struggle
by 123me
Summary: It wasn't supposed to be like this. He was meant to love her. TWOSHOT
1. Chapter 1

**Yet another idea that refused to leave my head. Anyone know how I can stop thinking?**

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Gabriella flinched as the sound of the door closing rang through the apartment, trying desperately to keep the tears in. She put a hand out, grasping aimlessly at the kitchen counter as she failed at the task, just as she'd failed, once again, to get him to stay with her for just one night. She let out a cough, steadying herself as she wiped her eyes. She knew what she had to do. She'd discussed it with her best friend earlier that day, promised that this time, she'd go through with it, that she wouldn't allow herself to be treated this way anymore.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. He was meant to love her. Something he'd told her every day during their seven year relationship. Used to tell her. She couldn't remember the last time he'd said those words to her. She couldn't even remember how long it had been since he'd stopped. He seemed to grow more oblivious to her feelings as time went on, so oblivious that now she didn't bother to talk to him about how she felt.

Maybe she'd have been more understanding if the lack of attention was due to work, but she knew it wasn't. He was out with his new friends - friends he had yet to introduce her to – doing who knows what. She'd given up trying to find out where exactly he was going after months of the only response she gained being "hitting a club."

He'd missed everything. Their anniversary had gone by unacknowledged by him. Her birthday. His birthday. Valentines day. He'd even preferred to spend New Year with his new friends. She had no doubt that he'd have been gone for Christmas too if his parents hadn't wanted to see them for the holiday. She'd attended her brother's engagement party alone, facing all the questions from her relatives about where he was. She'd lied, the one word answer slipping off her tongue like acid every time she spoke it. "Work."

Slowly, she stepped forward, releasing the counter as she headed towards the doorway to the small room, finding herself moving into the modest living room, old magazines scattered on the coffee table, a blanket crumpled on the couch where she'd left it earlier. The long dead plant still sitting on the windowsill. A shirt left over the arm of a chair. His shirt. Tearing her gaze away from it, she made her way around the furniture, moving fast, unsure as to whether this was to distract herself, or to give her less time to change her mind.

Picking up her cell from the coffee table, she rushed in pressing the number 3. He'd always been 1. Her mother held 2.

"Shar?" She felt the tears fall again as the call was answered.

"He went anyway, didn't he?" Gabriella sniffed, unable to answer the question. Her friend didn't seem to need the response. "How long will you be?"

The brunette bit her lip, trying to calm her uneven breathes. "A couple of hours."

"Stay strong." Sharpay instructed, the reassurance in her voice barely having any effect. "Don't change your mind again."

Gabriella nodded, forgetting that her friend could not see her, trying to hid the sob that followed the gesture. She had to leave. She had to go to stop herself being hurt. She doubted that he cared either way at this point. Her friend was right. She had to be strong. She'd come to accept that at this moment, what she wanted, and what she needed, were two completely different things.

When Troy Bolton got home, his girlfriend would be gone.

-U*S-

Sharpay Evans sighed as she hung up the phone. She knew that her anger wouldn't help her friend, and avoided showing it around her, yet she couldn't help but wish she hadn't been forbidden from confronting the man herself. She took a breath to calm herself down, turning to Taylor as she waited patiently for the blonde to speak.

"She's leaving him."

Taylor frowned, the hope that had been evident in her features almost automatically gone. "I really thought he'd listen to her this time."

"She didn't say how much she told him." The blonde elaborated. "Just that he'd gone out anyway." She hesitated, glancing across the room at Taylor's boyfriend, staring intently at the screen of his laptop, pretending to be distracted when all three people in the room knew he was listening to the conversation. "Chad, don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Shar." He'd ignored her. The warning had come from his girlfriend. "Chad's not going to tell him anything." She glanced over towards him. "You wouldn't tell him, right?"

"I barely speak to the guy anymore." Chad pointed out, the harshness in his tone not shocking either woman. He stood up. "I should head off anyway." Approaching his girlfriend, he kissed her lightly. "My place in an hour, movie night?"

She nodded, watching as he smiled warmly before heading out of the room. Neither woman noticed him fishing his phone out of his pocket as he left.

-U*S-

Troy Bolton glanced around, the bright lights illuminating the darkened room, the fancy tricks being performed behind the bar that most likely looked more skilled than it was. "We'll have to hit this place again sometime."

"Sure thing." Mike slurred, taking another sip of his drink. They'd been there little over ten minutes, and the man was already well on his way to drunk. "Man, you should get one of these."

"Driving." Troy raised a hand as if to decline a drink. "Gotta work tomorrow too."

"Sucks." Mike claimed, standing up from his seat. "Live a little, man. Ditch the car and get a cab."

"Too much hassle." Troy responded, smirking slightly as Mike stumbled. "Ella's already pissed at me for some reason. Probably PMS or something."

"Tell me." Mike raised his glass as if toasting some invisible entity, causing himself to stumble forward slightly, spilling some of the liquid onto the floor. "When are we going to meet the famous Ella?" He drunkenly gestured over to their other friends. "Luc thinks you're making her up."

"Don't want her around you clowns." Troy joked. "You're a bad influence."

"Dude." Mike spoke up again after finishing his drink. "You have got to have one of these."

Troy chuckled slightly as his friend sauntered off, looking around to see the others on the dancefloor. He stood up himself, intending to join them before feeling his cell buzz in his pocket. Taking the item out, he frowned at the number that appeared on the screen. He'd had no communication from Chad in weeks. Why now?

_Go home now. Don't make me regret this._

He pondered the words in the text, looking back over at his drunk friends on the dancefloor before making a decision.

-U*S-

Chad frowned, glancing down at his phone as he unlocked the door to his apartment. He wasn't sure if he was expecting a response. Usually he'd always get one, but things had changed. Troy had changed. A reply just wasn't a certain thing anymore. Even to a message like that.

He glanced around the apartment, internally debating whether or not he'd done the right thing. Troy was his friend. His best friend, but Gabriella was like a sister to him. He wanted to give his friend a fighting chance at saving his relationship, but Gabriella was hurting, he couldn't guarantee that giving his friend that chance would stop that, he couldn't even guarantee his friend would follow his advice and go home. If he didn't, and Gabriella found out that the supposed love of her life had been offered a chance to stop her leaving and hadn't taken it, she would be even more hurt than she was now.

He sighed to himself, dropping onto the couch, Troy was his best friend, whether he was acting like an idiot or not.

He wasn't sure that was enough anymore.

-U*S-

She could barely keep the tears in as she read over the note. The words, written by her own hand, almost biting as she acknowledged the reality of what they meant. It was all he'd come back to, and despite everything, the guilt about that was eating at her.

"_I know this is what you want."_

She didn't doubt that, but at this point, she wasn't sure that this was the way to go about it. Did she owe him more than a note? Did she owe him a face to face conversation before she left? She knew she'd never be able to do that. Even if he didn't want her anymore, she still loved him. It would be too hard.

-U*S-

Sharpay held the phone to her ear, flinching at the sound of her friends sobs. She wanted to go over there, to help her accept what she had to do, but at the same time she knew that this was something the brunette had to do for herself, something she had to do on her own. If she went over and helped, then Gabriella's doubts about leaving him would come flooding back, just like all the other times she had considered this.

"Hey." Sharpay tried. "He's an idiot. You deserve better than this."

"I know." Gabriella choked on the words. "I love him."

"It'll take time." Sharpay admitted. "Been through it here. You'll get over him." A pause on the other end of the line. "How long will you be?"

"An hour or so." Another pause. "I just need to get the rest of my clothes."

-U*S-

Gabriella carefully folded another shirt, considering the possibility that she was only being neat with her packing in the hopes that something, or someone, would stop her. She didn't doubt that this was the right thing to do. She wouldn't hurt him by leaving, She'd figured that out a while ago, but she would hurt herself by staying. It was now or never.

Heading back over to the wardrobe, she pulled out another shirt, blinking back the tears when she realised her mistake. It wasn't hers. She'd stolen it from him during better times. Times when he still told her that it looked better on her anyway. A time when they'd spend days at a time just sitting around in sweats watching movies just because they could. She could take the shirt, it wasn't as if he didn't know she had it, but she knew it wouldn't be good for her. It was time to move on. She had to.

Packing.

It made everything so final. After tonight, she'd have to live life without him. She'd have to go about everything as normal. She'd have to date.

She shook her head in annoyance. That wouldn't come for a while. She didn't expect to be ready for that anytime soon. She still loved him, despite how he'd been treating her, despite it being pretty obvious that he no longer loved her. She couldn't just turn off her feelings.

She emptied another drawer, taking her time at the task, barely managing to hold back the tears at the thought of what the action meant. Her things were disappearing from the room. Their room. Soon it would just be his room.

She looked up briefly as she heard the turn of a key in the lock. The hope only momentary when her mind kicked in, telling her that it was probably only Sharpay, wondering what was taking her so long.

"Shit!"

She froze as he heard the exclamation that came from the living room. That definitely wasn't Sharpay. She thought of the note she'd already written and left on the table for him to find. He wasn't meant to find it yet. He wasn't even meant to be here. He wasn't meant to be back until the early hours of the morning. She was meant to be gone.

She kept silent, praying that he hadn't found the hand written message. Hoping that his return was due to something trivial like forgetting his wallet. The exclamation because it wasn't where he'd thought it was. It was possible.

The sound of footsteps nearing the room kept her frozen in place, her eyes fixed on the door as if she was a child about to be caught with her hand in the cookie jar. This wasn't meant to happen. Not like this. She'd have to leave. She knew that if he saw what she was doing he'd probably expect her to, but seeing him would make leaving a lot harder than she had wanted it to be.

The handle of the bedroom door moved, time seemingly slowing down as it opened, revealing her panicked boyfriend standing at the threshold of the room, a lone piece of paper clutched in his palm.

The note.

"Baby." The single word echoed off of the walls as he approached her, dropping the paper as he pulled her into his arms, holding her tight against his chest. "Thank God."

She felt him tense, his grip tightening, and she managed to move her head to see him glancing over at the bed, her bags half packed.

"Ella." He whispered, the name almost catching in his throat as he surprised her by looking down. "Talk to me, please."

She closed her eyes to break the contact. One thing was certain. His unexpected reaction to the situation, paired with the tightness of his arms around her smaller body, other than suggesting that her thoughts may have been wrong, told her one other thing:

She wasn't going anywhere tonight.

-U*S-

Sharpay paced by the window, dialling and redialling the number of her best friend. She was meant to be there by now. She was meant to have left that apartment and gone to her friends. She wasn't even answering her phone.

"Gabs, where are you? I told you not to change your mind again. You need to do this."

She ended the call, glancing out of the window again. The dark street still except for the movement of the trees. The silence telling her that no one was approaching from any direction.

She'd give her friend another ten minutes, then she'd go to her.

-U*S-

She was refusing to talk to him, and he didn't know how to address what he'd read in her note. He hadn't known that she'd felt that way, and he knew that holding her close to him, both of them wrapped in a blanket, her favorite movie playing in the background, was never going to be enough. Not right now.

He had to consider himself lucky, he guessed, that the tears had now subsided. That she was allowing him to comfort her. That he'd got there in time to stop her. He'd have to thank Chad for that last one. He didn't even know why he'd gone home when his friend had told him to. He just had. He knew what the price would have been if he hadn't.

Gabriella shifted in his arms, moving her head so that it rested on his shoulder. He smiled slightly as he looked down at her, realising that she'd given in to her exhaustion, and was unconciously making sure she was comfortable. Moving a hand to her face, he brushed her curls behind her ear. "Where would I be without you?"

He kissed her forehead lightly, pulling the blanket off of them and picking up the control for the TV, turning it off before lifting her up in his arms and carrying her to bed.

"Troy?"

He smiled at the softness in her voice, knowing she was probably half asleep and had been temporarily disturbed by the movement. "I'm here baby, go back to sleep."

He lay her down lightly on the side of the bed that wasn't cluttered with her things, sitting by her until he was sure she was sleeping once again.

He moved around the bed, quietly beginning to undo the work that must have taken her most of her evening.

A loud knock on the door around half an hour later distracted him from the task, and a part of him resented whoever was at the other side of the door for making him leave the room.

"Gabriella?" He approached the door warily when he heard the voice. Sharpay had probably known what was going on, and he had to keep himself calm about that for now at least. "Gabriella, open the door."

He turned back into the apartment, glancing back at the hallway that led to their bedroom, praying that she was still fast asleep, he didn't want her to hear him angry, and there was a chance he wouldn't be able to hide it from the blonde.

-U*S-

Sharpay frowned as the apartment door opened. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I live here." Troy snapped. "Is there something I can help you with?"

He was trying to be civil, she knew that. "Where's Gabriella?" She paused, unsure as to how far she should go with this. "She's coming with me."

"She's sleeping." He answered the first question, his eyes darkening. "And she's staying right where she is."

Sharpay took a step forward, intending to step past him and make her way to her friend. He blocked her way. "Don't start acting like you give a shit now, Troy. I'm not buying it. Do you have any idea how much she's been hurting the past few months?"

"Maybe if you'd have fucking told me." She could tell he was desperately trying to stop himself from hitting something. "I had a right to know how she was feeling."

"If you cared about how she was feeling." Sharpay snarled. "You'd let me take her now and give her some space."

She'd been expecting the door to slam in her face.

-U*S-

Gabriella frowned as she woke up, automatically knowing that she was being watched. She didn't move, knowing that if she did, Troy would be alerted to the fact that she was indeed, awake. He'd want her to talk. She knew that. He'd tried last night, but she'd refused to answer him, knowing she was being childish.

She was confused. He was meant to be working today. He was meant to be at work. She didn't need to see the time to know that, he always left before she woke up, always came home for just enough time to get changed after, before going off with his friends. She'd usually be asleep before he returned.

She let out a deep breathe, giving away her concious state to him before turning onto her back, finding herself gazing into his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept.

"Hi." She greeted, sitting up before attempting to get out of bed. "You hungry?"

He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her back to him. "Pretending that last night didn't happen isn't going to help anyone." She looked down. She should have known the avoidance tactic wouldn't work. "You need to talk to me when you feel like that." She didn't respond. "Why didn't you?"

"You were never here." She pointed out, keeping her head down. "When was I meant to talk to you?"

She heard him sigh before he kissed her cheek lightly. "I'm sorry."

"Okay."

"I'll stop going out."

She turned to him, meeting the intensity of his gaze. "You don't have to stop altogether." She looked down again. "You don't want to be around me. I get it. You need your space."

"Hey." His voice was soft, and his fingers automatically met her chin, pulling her face up to look at him again. "Don't ever think I don't want to be around you. I love you. I love being around you. I have always and will always, and I think too much space is the main problem, don't you?"

She nodded, allowing him to pull her onto his lap. "I wish you'd talked to me." He kissed her temple lightly. "We could have avoided all of this."

She nodded, still unsure as to whether or not staying with him right now was the best thing to do. He was right, they couldn't ignore what had happened, and it didn't matter what he said to her right now, she was still having doubts. "I'm sorry."

"It won't happen again." He claimed, lightly rubbing her arm. "I promise." He kissed her again. "No more space. Just lots of hovering."

She nodded, and he knew that was the end of the conversation for now. Pushing her too far wasn't something he was about to do at that moment, their relationship, he knew, was hanging on by a thread, and he was going to have a long uphill struggle before she learnt to trust him again.

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**Okay, gonna admit, I hate the ending. Review?**


	2. Chapter 2

**I never intended to update this, but for the past few days it's the only story I've had in my head and I've decided to stop ignoring that in the hopes that writing it will clear my head enough to make it easier to update the others.**

**Working on the next Drunk now.**

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Troy watched as Gabriella stretched out on the couch, resting on her stomach as she focused on the images on the tv in front of her. He couldn't bring himself to smile at her concentration like he usually would, their strained relationship being constantly on his mind. He turned back to his laptop, continuing with the report he'd been working on before his attention had shifted to his girlfriend. He'd been working from home for the past week, unable to bring himself to leave her, despite the consistant rejection that had been the result of everything he tried since that night.

He looked up again, sighing to see her gaze still on the TV. "Elle?"

She didn't look at him. "Yeah?"

"I love you."

He watched the frown take over her features, her refusal to look at him still evident. "Me too."

Inwardly groaning, he placed his laptop on the coffee table before standing up, crouching down in front of her as a way to force eye contact. "Are you okay?" She nodded, her eyes darting around. She was trying to look anywhere but at him. "Ella, we're good, aren't we?" She hesitated before nodding unconvincingly. "Elle, I'm sorry." She ignored him. "You want to watch your movie?" Her nod encouraged him to move to the side slightly, allowing her to see the TV. "You want anything?" Another shake of the head. "You haven't eaten since breakfast, it's almost six."

"I'm fine, Troy."

He almost flinched against her tone, only just managing to compose himself. He deserved it. He knew that. "Okay." He paused, hoping for some kind of response. She gave none. "Just let me know if you need anything, okay?". No response, and the shrill ring of his phone forced him to give up on the wait for one.

He ignored it, moving back to his current position only to end the call before going back to his observation of his girlfriend.

"What do you want me to do?" He watched as she tensed again. "Ella?" She shifted onto her back, avoiding the question. "I don't know what you want me to do. I can't read your mind, Elle."

It was the silence that bothered him more than anything. He wanted her to yell and scream, hit him if she had to. The shut out killed him.

He stood up, intent on approaching her again, forced into changing his direction by a loud knock on the door.

"Troy, my man!" He stumbled as he was forced back into the apartment. "Where you been? Boss man says you doin all your work at home."

He shook his head in momentary disbelief at the sight of the three men in front of him. Not seeing them over the past week had shown him how irritating he found them. "How did you get up here?"

"Grabbed the door when one of your neighbours came in, didn't we."

He frowned as Mike rushed past him enabling the other two to enter the apartment, closing the door behind them.

"Hey guys!" Troy groaned at the shout. "What do ya know, he wasn't making her up!"

His eyes widened and he automatically turned, heading down the narrow hallway and into the living room, meeting his girlfriend's slightly shocked expression as he entered, instinctively moving to stand between her and his 'friends'.

"Man!" He heard the exclamation from the door. "Why the hell would you want to hide that?"

"I'm not an object." Gabriella stood up defiantly, almost making her boyfriend smile when she moved to stand directly behind him.

"She's fiesty." Luc commented. "I like that."

"You can stay the hell away from her!" Troy automatically snapped. "What are you even doing here?" He could feel the rage building up inside him, knowing that these were the people who were partly responsible for what had happened the previous week. At this point he couldn't even begin to understand why he had wanted to fit in with them in the first place. "Are you drunk already?"

"Man, that's why we're here." Mal announced. "You got boring, man, blowing off work I get, but you gotta get wasted."

"We're hitting this new place tonight." Mike put in, the slur in his words a clear indication of how drunk he already was. "It's gonna be great. You can't miss tonight, man."

"I've already missed everything important." Troy muttered more to himself than to his 'friends'. He kept his focus on them. "You guys have to go. I'm not coming tonight or any other night."

"I give him til next week." Luc decided. "He'll cave."

"Nah, it won't take him that long."

Mal laughed. "We gotta go man, you sure you don't wanna come?"

Troy shook his head, not bothering to show them out.

He let out a breath when he heard the door close.

"You can go if you want."

He almost jumped at her small voice, but automatically turned around, embracing her before she could escape. "I don't want to. I know you're not going to believe that after a week, but I don't." He sighed as she began to struggle. "Hey, hey, I don't want to go."

He let her break away from him, sighing as she resumed her earlier position on the couch. He frowned, observing her for a few minutes before speaking up. "I'm getting you some soup."

**-US2-**

"Mama," Gabriella greeted softly, sitting on the edge of the bathtub.

"Baby!" Marie responded almost as soon as she heard her daughter's voice. "I haven't heard from you in almost two weeks, I was getting worried."

"I'm fine, Mama."

Gabriella heard the sigh on the other end of the line. "No you're not, baby, I can hear it in your voice. What's going on?"

"I've barely said a sentence."

"Mothers know." Marie stated. "Tell me what's wrong."

She bit her lip, knowing that the issue would not be dropped. "I tried to leave him."

"Oh, baby, I'm so..." Marie cut herself off. "Tried to?"

"He came home early." Gabriella explained, already feeling the tears beginning to build. "He wouldn't let me go."

"Just like I told you." Marie reminded her daughter. "That boy loves you, sweetheart, he may be stupid sometimes, but he loves you."

"He's stopped going to work."

"Oh?"

"He keeps saying how he can work from home and how he has vacation time coming up." She blinked. "He's everywhere, mama. All the time."

"He's scared, baby." Marie decided. "He's scared that if he leaves, you won't be there when he gets back. How have things been between you since?"

"He doesn't want to be here." Gabriella decided. "He wants to go out with his friends, but he won't because he thinks it'll upset me."

"Did he say that?"

"No." She'd lowered her voice to a near whisper. "I haven't been talking to him. I can't. He tells me he doesn't want to go, but I know he's lying, mama."

"Has he done anything to make you think he's lying?" Gabriella could hear the frown in her mother's voice. "When he tells you he doesn't want to go out?"

Gabriella sighed, biting her lip before answering. "No. I just know."

"Like you just knew he wouldn't care if you left?" Marie responded. "Because it seems to me that you were wrong there."

"Mama..."

"You two need to sit down and talk properly."

"It's not that easy."

"No." She agreed. "Not with you being as stubborn as you are." She hesitated. "Honey, talk to him, give him a chance. I know you don't trust him right now, but you're not going to if you don't talk to him."

Gabriella sighed. "I guess... but what if..."

"Gabriella."

She sighed. "Okay. I'll talk to him." She paused. "Bye Mom."

She ended the call, sliding her cell back into her pocket, wary that her boyfriend had heard the call. He'd been attempting to stop her from calling Sharpay all week, and had, so far, succeeded. She stood up, slipping out of the bathroom door and into their bedroom across the hall, where she knew he'd be.

She frowned when she saw him. "What are you doing?"

He looked up from the bags he was packing, beaming at her, and she realised that it was the first time in a week that she'd initiated a conversation as opposed to the small statements she'd been making before. "We're taking some time off. We need to get away from here for a bit."

**-US2-**

Lucille was hugging them both almost as soon as she'd opened the door, remnants of flour visible in her hair. "I know you're busy people but you need to visit more. We haven't seen you since Christmas."

"Sorry." Gabriella apologised, glancing down at the entwined hands of herself and her boyfriend as Lucille pulled away. "Things have been crazy."

"I'm sure." The older woman answered. "You start your new job soon?"

"Two weeks." Gabriella smiled. "How did you know?"

"Troy told me." Lucille elaborated. "A couple of weeks ago now." She paused, taking in their appearance before leading them towards the living room. "Come sit."

Gabriella followed, processing her words. She hadn't even known that Troy knew about her new job. At that point, she'd already given up holding onto any kind of hope that he still cared.

"Tell me," Lucille's smile was almost permanent. "What's been making you two so busy that you couldn't call?"

Gabriella shifted uncomfortably, her gaze moving to the window. The tight grip on her hand was almost burning. She hadn't thought about the questions they'd be asked.

"I'm kinda tired, I need to go and lie down." She stood, heading towards the stairs, not really acknowledging how her behaviour would be perceived.

"Troy?" Lucille turned on her son. "Is she okay?" She watched as he ran his hand through his hair. "What's going on?"

He sighed, staying silent until he could no longer hear his girlfriend's footsteps. "I screwed up, mom, and I don't know how to make it right."

"Honey, I know things were a little tense at Christmas, but whatever it was, she'll calm down eventually."

"I forgot her, mom." He groaned almost inaudibly. "I was so wrapped up with fitting in at work I didn't see how upset she was."

"I'm sure she understa..."

"How can she understand?" He interrupted. "How could I ever expect her to understand why I ditched her for new year? Why I forgot valentines day? Her BIRTHDAY!"

Lucille got up, moving to sit by her son. "She's still here." She frowned, hating seeing her son at breaking point.

"She tried to leave me, mom." He admitted. "She left a note. If I'd have got home any later she'd have been gone." He paused. "She won't talk to me." He let out a sigh. "I don't know how to let her out of my sight, mom."

"You're doing just fine."

"I know that Sharpay's not going to jump out and grab her here."

"Sharpay?"

"She encouraged her. Instead of telling her to talk to me she basically convinced her to le..."

"Stop blaming other people." Lucille interrupted. "That's the first thing you need to do. Take responsibility, admit you were wrong. She won't be able to trust you if you don't."

He looked towards the stairs before looking over at his mother. "I should give her a few minutes before going up there, right?"

She nodded. "Right."

**-US2-**

Gabriella threw the bags on the floor as she entered the room, jumping down on the bed before letting out a frustrated groan. She hadn't thought about this possibility over the months of longing for his attention. He wouldn't leave her alone for more than five minutes, and his constant fussing was making it really difficult for her to continue shutting him out. Her mother was right, she knew that. She had to talk to him.

She debated taking the little alone time she had to call her friend. Sharpay had been leaving her messages all week, but she knew that he wouldn't be far behind her, and that the blonde was far from his favourite person at that moment. She sighed, sitting up again, listening for any sound of his approach, before deciding to make the call anyway.

"Gabby!" The exclamation came the second the phone was answered. "Are you okay?"

She nodded before remembering that her friend couldn't see her. "I'm fine."

"Why haven't you been answering your phone?"

"I haven't really had the chance."

"I tried coming to see you every day last week, but he was there all the time."

"He didn't go to work."

"All week?"

"No."

"Is he there now?"

"He's downstairs."

"Downstairs?" Sharpay queried. "At your neighbours?"

"We're visiting his parents."

"Well played."

"What?"

"You're upset so he takes you away from your friends to stop you leaving." The blonde let out an irritated sigh. "He's practically holding you hostage. If you need help, I can come and get you."

"I'm okay." Gabriella admitted. "Things have just been crazy." She paused. "It's just strange. Two weeks ago he was practically ignoring me, now he hardly ever leaves me alone."

"Because that makes it all better."

"I can almost see you rolling your eyes."

"I am." The blonde answered. "How can you think this is okay? He ignored you for months. You better not be accepting this."

"I wasn't."

"Wasn't?"

"Well..." Gabriella hesitated. "I kind of... want to. He's really..." She cut off, hearing footsteps on the stairs. "I gotta go."

She hung up, quickly shoving her phone back in her pocket before leaning back on the bed.

"Hey." She watched as he moved towards her, sitting at the end of the bed and gently placing his hand on her foot. "Mom wants to know if you want to sleep for a bit before dinner."

She frowned, shaking her head. "I'm not tired."

She acknowledged the surprise on his face before he spoke. "Didn't think so."

"I called Shar."

If he was annoyed, he didn't show it. "Yeah?"

"She hates you."

"I don't exactly like her that much right now." He sighed, sensing her hesitation at his words. "I know." He paused. "I know it's not her fault, that she didn't make me do what I did, but right now, she's the person who tried to take you away from me."

She nodded. "She didn't make the decision for me."

"I know." He agreed. "But she didn't tell me how you were feeling, and she could have. Chad did, even if it took him a while."

"Chad?"

"Why did you think I came home earlier than usual?" She shrugged. "He sent me a text, telling me to go home, and I did."

"I should have known." She smiled weakly. "It was always going to be him."

He sighed. "I think I just knew. I knew it was about you and the thought that something could have happened to you..." He cut off. "I knew something was wrong when I saw that letter about your job. You didn't tell me about it, how could I not have known."

"I didn't think you cared." He watched as she nervously played with her hands. "So I just didn't mention it."

"What did you think I was going to do?" He asked, watching as her brow furrowed in response. "If I'd have come home, and you'd have left. You thought I would have just accepted that?" she shrugged, and he automatically understood what she didn't want to say. "I would have gone straight to Shar's and stayed outside all night if I had to." He reached out, brushing her hair behind her ear, sighing in relief when she didn't protest. "I'm sorry I ever made you feel that you weren't important, and I understand that you're not really going to trust me for a while, but everything's going to be okay."

She nodded. "I just thought that..." She paused, swallowing in an attempt to avoid tears. "I thought that you didn't want me anymore."

"I promise," He whispered, taking the risk of pulling her into his arms, holding her tightly against his chest. "That I will never let you feel that way again." He smiled as she responded to his embrace for the first time in what felt like forever. "You're everything to me." He kissed her lightly on the forehead. "And I'm never going to let you forget that again."

"Okay."

He chuckled slightly at the tired mumble and the yawn that followed. "I thought you weren't tired."

"I'm not."

"Okay." He agreed. "You'll be even more not tired after a nap, right?"

She nodded against his chest. "Right."

He leaned back on the bed, shifting her slightly in his arms to make her more comfortable, before glancing over at the bags piled in the corner of the room, smiling at the thought of the ring that he'd purchased nearly eight months before that was yet to be used. He knew it would be a while yet, he'd have to wait until she trusted him, but it wouldn't be hidden forever. He looked down at her sleeping figure, kissing her lightly. "Soon, beautiful. Soon."

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